原文標題：
Literature
#Lovestory
Sales of romance novels are rising in Britain. Tik tokers help explain why

文學

愛情故事

在英國，言情小說的銷售量正在增長，Tik Tok博主們的貢獻很大

Her pulse quickened
Tiktokers are falling in love with the genre

她的心跳加快了

Tik Tok博主們愛上了言情小說

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PASSION IS BEING partitioned. Online, and particularly on TikTok, romantic fiction is being carved into categories by its fans.
激情被細分了。在網(wǎng)上，特別是在TikTok上，言情小說被粉絲們劃分成了許多不同的類別。

Where once people merely read a category called “books” now they read categories called #friendstolovers, #enemiestolovers and #academicrivalstolovers.
曾經(jīng)人們只是閱讀“書籍”這一類別，現(xiàn)在他們讀的是#朋友變戀人、#敵人變戀人和#學術(shù)對手變戀人等類別。

Feminism is not this movement’s strong suit. There is a category called #billionaireromance; there is no category named #earningsparity.
女權(quán)主義并不是其中的突出特點。有一個叫做#億萬富翁的愛情故事的分類；卻沒有一個叫#收入平等的分類。

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Progressive or not, the hashtags are shifting books.
無論進步與否，這些標簽正在改變書籍。

Thanks in part to TikTok memes, sales of romance and saga fiction in Britain have risen by 110% in three years, to ￡53m ($64m) a year—their highest figure in a decade, according to figures from Nielsen BookData.
根據(jù)尼爾森書籍數(shù)據(jù)顯示，由于TikTok的傳播，英國言情小說和傳奇小說的銷售額在三年內(nèi)上漲了110％，達到了每年5300萬英鎊（6400萬美元） - 這是十年來的最高水平。

Publishers have started to take notice. For many years the industry had regarded romantic fiction with Darcy-like disdain but now its pulse is quickening.
這已經(jīng)引起出版商的注意。多年來，出版業(yè)一直以達西般的傲慢蔑視言情小說，但現(xiàn)在這個市場變得越來越活躍。

Bookshops no longer stash books with pink covers at the back of shops but put them on tables near the tills; publishers are learning to brave the word “heartwarming” without embarrassment.
書店不再把粉色封面的書籍藏在店鋪的后面，而是把它們放在收銀臺附近的桌子上；出版商也開始勇敢地使用“溫馨感人”這個詞，且不會感到尷尬。

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It is thought the rise in romance is due, in part, to the pandemic.
有人認為言情小說崛起的部分是因為疫情。

“We’re looking for escapist fiction,” says Molly Crawford, editorial director at Simon & Schuster UK. But it is also perhaps because the genre lends itself so readily to filters and personalisation.
西蒙與舒斯特英國分社的編輯主任莫莉·克勞福德說：“我們正在尋找逃避現(xiàn)實的小說?！?/span>但也許還因為這種類型小說容易產(chǎn)生濾鏡和個性化效果。

Antique poets might have claimed love was as limitless as the stars but romantic fiction, however good, has always been prone to tropes.
古代詩人可能認為愛情像星星一樣永恒，但無論有多好，言情小說很容易變成套路。

A large number of old novels already fit these new paradigms perfectly: online, “Pride and Prejudice” is now categorised as #enemiestolovers.
許多舊小說已經(jīng)完美地符合了這些新范例要求：在線上，《傲慢與偏見》現(xiàn)在被歸類為#敵人變戀人。

As P.D. James, a novelist, once observed, Jane Austen novels are merely “Mills & Boon written by a genius”.
正如小說家P.D. James曾經(jīng)觀察到的那樣，簡·奧斯汀的小說只是“由米爾斯&布恩公司的天才作家寫的”。

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Mills & Boon itself is marketed by a genius.
米爾斯&布恩公司本身是由一個天才營銷專家推廣的。

Long before most Tiktokers were born, the romantic publisher had cornered the market in categories.
早在大多數(shù)博主成名之前，米爾斯&布恩公司就已經(jīng)壟斷了各個分類市場。

Its website offers the drop-dead gorgeous in drop-down menus, with entries for such things as “Historical”, “Medical” and “Desire”.
它的網(wǎng)站提供了吸引眼球的下拉菜單，其中包括“歷史”、“醫(yī)療”和“欲望”等分類菜單。

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The Mills & Boon search bar is a kind of census of female desire.
米爾斯&布恩的搜索欄就像一項女性欲望的普查。

Type in “Italian”, and you will be offered 338 titles; “Sheikh” brings up 282; and “Welsh” four. “Brooding” returns 66 results, while “Cheerful” produces zero. “Billionaire” offers you 754, “Surgeon” 206 and “Doctor” 380 .
輸入“意大利”，你會看到338個結(jié)果；輸入“酋長”，會有282個結(jié)果；而輸入“威爾士”只有4個。輸入“憂郁”會有66個結(jié)果，而輸入“快樂”的結(jié)果是0。輸入“億萬富翁”會有754個結(jié)果，“外科醫(yī)生”有206個，而“醫(yī)生”有380個。

“Middle Manager” returns the pitiless phrase: “Sorry, no products matched the keyword.”
而輸入“中層管理者”則會出現(xiàn)無情的提示：“抱歉，沒有與關(guān)鍵詞匹配的書籍?！?br>
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Middle managers aside, tastes vary when it comes to romantic fiction.
除了中層管理者，人們的言情小說品味也因人而異。

Elisabeth Kendall is mistress (the title feels unusually apposite) of Girton College, Cambridge and a world expert in jihadi chick lit.
伊麗莎白·肯德爾是劍橋大學格頓學院院長（頭銜非常貼切），也是圣戰(zhàn)少女文學的世界專家。

In “I Fell In Love With a Jihadi Fighter”, two distant cousins are thrown together in the same house in the Syrian civil war (#forcedproximity). Smouldering glances are followed, somewhat unexpectedly, by the hero’s death.
在《我愛上了圣戰(zhàn)士兵》中，兩個遠房表親在敘利亞內(nèi)戰(zhàn)中被困在同一棟房子里（#被迫靠近）。繼而兩眼對視，但英雄不幸去世。

Happily all is not lost because, as Dr Kendall explains, “the woman decides she wants to join him” and so the rest of the novel is about “her metamorphosis into a suicide-bomber”. The smouldering resumes.
幸運的是，并沒有失去一切，因為肯德爾博士解釋說，“女主決定跟隨英雄的腳步，最終變成了一個“自殺式炸彈襲擊者”，小說的剩余部分講述了她的蛻變過程?！泵匀说哪抗庠俅纬霈F(xiàn)。

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The novels that straddle the romance-bestseller charts in Britain strike a different tone.
在英國，占據(jù)言情小說暢銷榜的小說各有不同的風格。

Many are modern and American; all have taut-jawed heroes and a fondness for exposition.
其中許多是現(xiàn)代的美式風格，男主角臉部輪廓分明且喜歡炫富。

In one, a #billionaire checks his “Patek Philippe watch. Limited edition, hermetically sealed and waterproof, the stainless-steel timepiece had set [him] back a cool twenty grand.” It’s almost like reading Austen.
在其中一本小說中，一位#億萬富翁檢查了他的“百達翡麗手表，限量版，密封防水，不銹鋼，花他整整2萬英鎊?！边@幾乎像是在讀奧斯汀的作品。

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Not every title is modern.
并非每本書都是現(xiàn)代小說。

The covers of historical bestsellers feature winsome women in shawls; their plot lines feature pirates, illegitimate children and a liberal supply of scoundrels.
歷史言情暢銷小說的封面上有一些穿著披肩的迷人女性；小說情節(jié)涉及海盜、私生子和大量流氓。

As the blurb for one explains: “Marcus is excited by Emmy’s virginity and has her kidnapped, but Emmy hits him over the head and escapes.” It was all go in the past.
正如其中一本的簡介所說：“馬庫斯對艾米的貞潔感到興奮，于是綁架了她，但艾米打暈他后逃脫了?！?那都是過去的事了。

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Romance is a genre with great continuity. But as Sharon Kendrick, a bestselling Mills & Boon author, points out, the past few years have left their mark.
言情小說是一種擁有極強連續(xù)性的文學類型。但正如米爾斯&布恩暢的銷書作家沙龍·肯德里克所指出的那樣，過去已經(jīng)留下了他們的痕跡。

Although women still like masterful heroes, #MeToo means “Sheikhs aren’t quite as popular…as they have been” (bit too masterful).
盡管女性仍然喜歡霸道的英雄，但“#MeToo”的出現(xiàn)意味著“酋長不再像以前那樣受歡迎……因為他們太過霸道”。

Billionaires now far outnumber millionaires because of “the cost of living…I mean, look at the price of a stamp.”
億萬富翁的數(shù)量現(xiàn)在遠遠超過了百萬富翁，因為“生活成本太高了，你看看郵票的價格吧?！?br>
（恭喜讀完，本篇英語詞匯量802左右，有刪減）
原文出自：2023年3月11日《The Economist》Britain版塊。

精讀筆記來源于：自由英語之路

本文翻譯整理: Irene本文編輯校對: Irene
僅供個人英語學習交流使用。

【補充資料】（來自于網(wǎng)絡(luò)）
米爾斯&布恩Mills & Boon是一家英國出版公司，成立于1908年，主要出版浪漫小說，包括愛情小說、歷史小說、科幻小說等等。這些小說通常以情感為主題，涵蓋了各種愛情故事，包括歡樂、悲傷、挑戰(zhàn)和勝利。這些小說的讀者通常是女性，Mills & Boon的書籍已經(jīng)被翻譯成許多不同語言，在全球范圍內(nèi)廣受歡迎。Mills & Boon的小說也被稱為“Harlequin Romance”，是出版商Harlequin Enterprises的一個品牌。

“the cost of living…I mean, look at the price of a stamp.”這句話出自J.D. Salinger的小說《麥田里的守望者》（The Catcher in the Rye）。在小說中，主角霍爾頓（Holden）在和他的朋友菲茨（Phoebe）談話時說到了這句話，表達了他對生活成本不斷上漲的不滿和焦慮。

【重點句子】（3?個）
Publishers have started to take notice. For many years the industry had regarded romantic fiction with Darcy-like disdain but now its pulse is quickening.
這已經(jīng)引起出版商的注意。多年來，出版業(yè)一直以達西般的傲慢蔑視言情小說，但現(xiàn)在這個市場變得越來越活躍。

Antique poets might have claimed love was as limitless as the stars but romantic fiction, however good, has always been prone to tropes.
古代詩人可能認為愛情像星星一樣永恒，但無論有多好，言情小說很容易變成套路。

Middle managers aside, tastes vary when it comes to romantic fiction.
除了中層管理者，人們的言情小說品味也因人而異。